A lot of people use the SilverStripe suite to build awesome web solutions for themselves or their clients. SilverStripe is very proud of the many beautiful websites, applications, modules and themes that you build with the CMS and the Framework. We know that you put a lot of hard work and passion into building these things, so I guess it is just a natural transgression to turn this effort into a business and to actually start making money from it.
The SilverStripe suite is running under a BSD licence, which means that every developer/designer owns the right to their code and can sell it if they wish to. That makes setting up a business much easier for SilverStripe users.
In the past seven months, since I started working for SilverStripe Ltd, I received quite a few emails from people who wanted to use the SilverStripe brand to promote their business. As a Marketing Manager coming from the corporate world, I was reluctant to the idea of other businesses using the SilverStripe brand. The brand is every company's highest asset and usually receives a lot of protection.
After working with SilverStripe, I quickly learnt that the highest value is the community and that open-source is about sharing rather than protecting, because sharing means growing; growing the passion for the product and growing the product itself.
If you want to grow with SilverStripe and start building your business on it then we encourage that. Because the more usage and improvement the tools get, the better they become. Using the tools for business purpose means spreading the word about the CMS and the Framework.
Speaking of this, I am happy if you want to associate your business with SilverStripe, as long as you stick to a couple of golden rules:
- You may not use the word ‘SilverStripe’ in your business name. ‘SilverStripe’ is a trademark and as such is protected from the use of others.
- The same goes for the logo. If you create a logo for your business, please stay away from using the SilverStripe logo or part thereof as your own.
Examples of community members who have made a great connection to the SilverStripe brand:
http://stripetheweb.co/
http://www.silversmithproject.com/
If you don’t adhere to these rules, SilverStripe Ltd is immediately associated with your work and unfortunately we can’t take responsibility or moderate the work that you are doing. On the other hand, you might want to create your own reputation and get acknowledgement for your work, rather than handing this to someone else.
For future reference, you can find the rules above as being part of the media assets page on silverstripe.com.
If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are uncertain about how to approach the naming of your business, please feel free to drop me an email at kerstin@silverstripe.com.
